Mud bath

Mud bath
20" x 30"
SOLD

My exhibition in Putney with Paul Curtis NEAC is finished now but was a great success. I was so busy with the house move that I didn't get a chance to blog about it so I'll try to make up for that now and show you some of the work from the show. 

This is one of the large studio cow paintings that sold. I found I couldn't get a good photo of this piece but it gives you an idea anyway. It excites me the way the cows become a part of the mud, and the light catches the wet surfaces with little glimpses here and there in the darkness. I look forward to returning to this subject, I just need to find a local dairy farm willing to help out an artist.

Graze
20" x 24"
SOLD

Graze

Graze
20" x 24"

My exhibition opens today at The Russell Gallery in Putney, and will be open until the 2nd April. If you come to London this month please try and visit. There are also works by Paul Curtis NEAC which I am looking forward to seeing.

This is one of my new paintings in the exhibition - a large studio painting of some cows that I painted in Norfolk recently. 

Paintings can be viewed online at www.russell-gallery.com

Enquiries www.haideejo.com

Telephone: 0208 780 5228

Gallery email: russgallery@aol.com

12 Lower Richmond Road, Putney, London SW15 1JP

End of day

End of day
8" x 12"

I made an attempt this week at capturing that elusive, fast changing time of day. Trying to catch those warm and cool colour shifts in the clouds. The sun going down in a final blaze of glory.

The blue carrot shed

The blue carrot shed

The third day of filming in Cornwall was a beauty, and we found ourselves in this south facing cutting garden. It was very hot but I was so happy to be there surrounded by such fantastic subject material. In part my choice of viewpoint was influenced as to where we could find space for three people to stand with three camera tripods. But had that not been the case, it would have been very hard to resist this little blue shed with the pink roses in front!

Again I was working with a little pochade box and an 8" x 10" board. I used to really struggle to paint small sizes outdoors and found that I had a tendency to tighten up and get a bit fiddly. I decided long ago that 8" x 10" was as small as I was happy to go.

I think I've overcome that now as I was very comfortable with the 8" x 10" format. The trick is to keep using a good sized brush and not feel you have to go tiny. Plus I had to make extra choices regarding selection and simplification. There are areas I would have worked more information into had I been using a larger canvas.

Detail

Huge thanks to Susanne of The Blue Carrot for allowing me to visit and paint in her beautiful space. If you are on Instagram look up @the_blue_carrot for beautiful images of flowers and weddings!

And while you're on Instagram, did you know I'm there too? I put more on Instagram than I do on Facebook or twitter, I find it's the perfect place for sharing a quick snap of something exciting or beautiful - without the need to add text! I'm there as @haideejosummers 

Old milking parlour and snapdragons

Old milking parlour and snapdragons
Oils 8" x 10"

I had one of those 'coup de cœur' moments when I came across this scene in Cornwall. I first saw it on a cloudy day when I was struck by the great shapes of the doorways and the mysterious dark within.

When I returned to paint here the sun was shining, which heightened the contrast between the outside and the inside of the barn, and the exterior stone wall that you can see through the doorway on the right.

Getting the darks in first

There was an interesting shadow from a fence to the right casting diagonal shadows across the front of the barn, and they could even be seen over the foliage of the various weeds and snapdragons that have self seeded right in front of the barn. 

Detail

A favourite spot!

Outgoing tide and ferry, St Mawes
Oils 11" x 14"

Here's another from my Cornwall DVD, one of my favourite places to paint - St Mawes. I love it here when the sunlight is dancing on the water but even on a cloudy day it's a terrific place to find a subject. Pendennis castle in Falmouth can be seen on the distant headland here.

Detail of harbour area

I absolutely loved the sight of the ropes contrasted against the harbour wall. For a detail like this in a alla prima painting I have to use an extremely light touch and a swift movement. It can't be done falteringly. I always hold my breath while I do it!

Detail of sky and sea

I'm here!

Rose garden at Belton House
12" x 16"

Ok so it seems as though two months has passed since I spoke to you last - it isn't that long but I've been packing a LOT in to the last four weeks! I'll try to get you back up to date with a lot of mini blog 'postcards' and action shots!
This is my favourite of the three paintings I did for the 'Where in the world is plein air' video event. This was day three for me and again I was blessed with fantastic weather. It was a really hot day but I had a tree fairly close to me so I was able to step back in the shade and cool off now and then. What an idyllic spot and subject, I didn't know which way to look! The roses in England have been absolutely amazing this year.

It was a nice surprise to find one of my Facebook friends/blog subscribers sketching in the garden too :-)

Actually this is one of my favourite paintings of the whole year so far, and it's now in America at the Illume gallery in Salt Lake City along with my other two from the event. If anyone could show me a photo of them in situ I'd be enormously grateful, it's a little far for me to get to at the moment.
You can watch the video of it's creation here.
You could even be the rightful owner of this gorgeous painting :-)

Where in the world...

English summer pasture
12" x 16"

This is my second painting as part of the Illume Gallery's 'Where in the world is plein air' event. For three days over a hundred artists took part from all over the world and made short videos to accompany their paintings.

It is so much fun watching the videos and fascinating to see where everybody has been painting this week. You can see my videos here and then click on 'artists' to choose which other videos you'd like to see.

I was amazed what I heard Lori Putnam say when she was filming for day one, about the passers by who stopped to chat!

Now all the finished paintings are for sale with the Illume Gallery of Fine Art in Salt Lake City in Utah, so I will be wrapping mine up and posting them off there. 

The team involved has done an incredible job co-ordinating all the artists and uploading the videos, and now they have a big exhibition to organise! 

'Down on the farm' - just needed a piece of straw to chew on!

Regency picnic

Regency picnic, Gunby Hall
12" x 16"

It's not every day you get a chance to dress up in a regency style dress and bonnet, to paint similarly attired people having a picnic in sunshine at a beautiful stately home in the countryside, is it? 

Painting the picnic

I count myself extremely lucky to have done exactly that at Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, and I also made a short video of the day which you can see here!

Selfie in bonnet - I always wanted to be in a Jane Austen movie ;-)

Bees in the orchard

Bees in the orchard
Oils 10" x 14"

We've had some fantastic weather this week in Lincolnshire, so I had to get out painting and where better than the gorgeous gardens at Gunby Hall? I headed for my favourite spot but the pond was brown and left me uninspired. This turned out to be a good thing as I wandered into this gorgeous orchard, and I've always hankered after painting bee hives! How exciting! The setting could not have been more lovely, and I'm very glad I came.

Can you see the bees? ;-)

Not a cloud in the sky

Breaking wave

Breaking wave catches the light
Oils, unframed size 16" x 20"
Framed size 23" x 27"

Here's a change from all those lovely wintry paintings I've been doing lately - I've also been busy painting lovely seascapes so I'll show you a few of those this week. I really love this one, that marvellous green glow as the sun illuminates the breaking wave. This is a studio painting but I have stood on these rocks at Mousehole and painted the waves coming over the rocks from life, so I hope I have captured some of that feeling of urgency and movement here. As always, distilling the information received down to it's essential components, is what counts.

This one is being framed up for the Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall, and will be for sale there at £1100. If you'd like to rush in and grab it before it even makes it to the gallery wall or the Harbour Gallery's website please contact Mark here :-)

Turkey at the allotments

The pens
Oils 12" x 16"

It's been a week off school and a week of birthdays and celebrations at our house. I've had little time for anything else, but it's been good fun. Great to get back to a working routine today though!

The week before I had a most enjoyable afternoon at the allotments with my friend artist Mo Teeuw. I mostly talked while she painted the view behind me and at some point in the proceedings I managed to paint this fabulous shed with the corrugated metal fencing that has seen better days. 

The turkey was a little further away and was making a big show of his feathers every time I walked near to warn me off. I thought he would make a great subject but there was nothing of interest to me in his environs. I did however like this shed, and it came with the added bonus of being within talking distance of Mo. And this was the outcome.

By the way you might like to look at Mo's blog - in January she managed to get out and paint every single day, which is no mean feat in the UK! Well done Mo x

Across the snowy fields

Across the fields

We haven't had lots of snow this winter, but more than last year anyway which was none at all! In the couple of days of snow we had in January I had a drive around the local villages and found this wonderful view, looking across the fields outside Londonthorpe. I was particularly struck by the shape of that lovely tree halfway down the hill, and the gorgeous light effect giving warmth to its higher branches. Also how that warmth contrasted with the cool violet shadows falling across the foreground field. Gorgeous!

While I was there I saw a villager pouring salt on the icy road, another clearing a driveway with a shovel and one struggling to get his car out of a side road because of the depth of snow there. An awful lot of disruption and then within two days, there was no snow to be seen except for a frosting of ice here and there. This tends to be the way of things when snow falls in England, absolute pandemonium and then it's gone :-) 

Christmas market at dusk

Christmas market series no 3 - market at dusk

I love this one, it's got such mood and expression and again that economy of strokes which is what I'm always striving for - how to say more with less.

This is such a good time of year to reflect on where your work has been and where it might be heading in the year ahead. I'll certainly be giving some thought in the next few days to personal objectives and projects in the year ahead.

My biggest project in 2015, which I'm very excited to tell you about, is that I'm going to be writing a book about oil painting and I'm going to be starting on that very soon. I'm so excited! I'd love your help with that, if there is anything you struggle with or think should be included in the book then now is a great time to let me know as I'm only just beginning with ideas of topics to cover. Although the book will be written specifically about oil painting I want it to be full of painting advice that you can take to any subject and other mediums also. 

And very soon on my blog I'll be doing my annual review, as I find it really helpful to look back over the year past before making plans for the new year ahead. So in the meantime I can only say that I wish you a happy, healthy and fulfilling new year, and I look forward to seeing you in 2015 :-)

A holiday snow day!

Snow over Wilsford
12" x 16" Oils

In between the fun and feasting and visits I was able to get out locally and paint the snow that had fallen overnight - such excitement after not having had snow here for at least 20 months!

I didn't have a suitable board prepared with an under colour, so I had to start with a white surface for this one which I don't really like to do. So I used some glaze medium mixed in with the paint and turps for the first stages adding thinned blues and purples, very much like a watercolour technique. 

This was dry enough to add thicker lighter paint on top within the hour, without any difficulties.

 

Painting in situ

A Boxing Day sketch, family watching TV

Oasis in Chelsea

Oasis in Chelsea
26" x 28"

This is a recent studio painting, the inspiration for which came from my visit to Chelsea in July for Pintar Rapido. This is the market place that I painted but the day before the event there were no market stalls and instead children played in these water jets. I was absolutely captivated by the subject with the bright sparkling water seen against the dark buildings in shadow. 

I really enjoyed building up glazes of colour for the darks, something that is only really possible in studio paintings with the benefit of drying time. The wet and dry, sunlit and shaded pavement area was a challenge! I tried to give the children's figures a loose treatment, to add an element of confusion, movement and splashing water.

I'm not altogether decided if it's finished, but it is hanging on my studio wall so I can glance at it occasionally and maybe I'll dip back in.

I'm taking a little holiday from Facebook so I am sorry if you are used to seeing me on there. My blog posts will still automatically update to it because frankly I can't be doing with figuring out how to stop that right now! I will be popping back on from time to time. And if you miss me you can still find me on twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Why? Well I find those easy to dip in and out of, they just don't take up my time in the same way. 

Today (Wednesday 12th November) I will be painting a portrait demo at Patchings art centre. Still a few days left if you haven't seen my big exhibition there yet - it finishes on the 23rd.

Thank you Paul for coming all the way from Canada - you should really get a prize! :-)

Gathered in the shade

Gathered in the shade, West Moor
Oils 22" x 24"

I'm in a bit of a hurry so can't stop long. I'm off to paint for a couple of days in Norfolk and then five days in Venice and so I'm in the process of throwing anything that I might conceivably need in either place into the back of my car as we speak. I'll do my best to send you little 'visual postcards' from both places.

You'll be pleased and relieved to hear that all 51 paintings for my next big exhibition are finished, framed, signed and delivered to Patchings - and Imo, I couldn't have done it without you moving in to my studio to paint those 30 odd frames so THANK YOU!! We got there!!

This is one of my larger paintings for the exhibition, and a studio painting. You may recognise the subject from a watercolour I did in my sketchbook earlier in the summer.

But now, I must grab a suitcase and some clothes if I'm going to make it to Norfolk before midnight!

BIG news!!

Walking through buttercups, Harpur hill
Oils 26" x 28"
Buxton Spa Prize Winner
SOLD

With our certificates!
Rob Wilson (3rd prize), me and then Keith Wilkinson (2nd prize)
Thanks to Bertolutti Dora for photo

I am absolutely delighted to announce that I am the first prize winner of the Buxton Spa prize 2014, the inaugural plein air painting competition held in this beautiful and vibrant Derbyshire town. The prizes were announced at the exhibition preview and prizegiving evening on Thursday and I haven't had a chance to blog until now or for it to sink in really!

The judging panel consisted of the eminent artists Harold Riley and Ken Howard OBE RA, Viscountess Cobham the Chairman of VisitEngland and the Art Fund Prize, Ros Westwood the Derbyshire Museums Manager, Anne-Lise Fraser the Programme Cordinator at Leek School of Art and Louise Potter local businesswoman and Manager of the Literary Festival a long standing supporter of cultural initiatives in Buxton and Trevor Osborne who is leading the project to restore Buxton Crescent and an active supporter of the arts.

I painted this large work en plein air on Harpur Hill in Buxton, which was my allocated spot for the competition. I don't often get a chance to paint a wide ranging vista and of course the light changed fantastically throughout the day but I really enjoyed the whole process and was pleased with the freshness of the result. I also felt that it was a landmark work for me and fortunately I've had a few of those lately. It's hard to explain but it's sort of a feeling that something in the painting is showing me the way forward for my work, ahead of it's time almost or a turning point.

Of course I didn't know that the judges would love it as much as I did! The eminent artist Harold Riley spoke about painting being about love and honesty, and then said that my work showed emotion and captured the spirit of the Derbyshire peak district. 

I am still a little stunned by the events of the evening! My prize is £5000 and my painting has also sold. After the prize giving some photographs were taken and then we the prize winners were given a sumptuous dinner at the Old Hall hotel with the judges and organisers. It was the most exciting night, thank goodness I had booked a room for myself in the beautiful place next door, No 6 The Square, as I was in no fit state to drive two hours home afterwards. Too shaky! 

The exhibition of all the works created for the competition in the summer of 2014 can now be seen at  the Green Man gallery situated at Hardwick Hall in Buxton, and will remain on show until October 12th. I am going back to see the exhibition soon as there are so many gorgeous paintings and I didn't get a chance to view them with all the people there and all the activity going on during the preview.

With my painting and red dot!

Now before anyone mentions, no I didn't realise I was co-ordinating my dress with the painting and of course I didn't know I would be having my photo taken at all! A lot of the Facebook comments are loving the dress and saying that I look like a buttercup myself :-)

With judge artist Harold Riley on the stage
Thanks to Bertolutti Dora for photo

The painting in progress on Harpur Hill in July

Detail from painting

Spotted dog at the allotments

Demo at the allotments
12" x 16" Oils

I've enjoyed some great workshops in the last month, here are some photos from one I did in Nottingham with the Spotted Dog art group. Hello to you and the guest artists who came! We had a great day with gorgeous weather and were based in Inham Nook allotments. The allotment association were very good to us, and we also had use of the village hall so all in all a perfect set up.

Here's the demo I did before lunch, I probably could have gone for a simpler subject but well! It was all about that light hitting the glass greenhouse roof. A few of the members said to me that they weren't sure they would even find a subject of interest to paint at an allotments... but I think they'd seen the light by the end of the day. :-)

"How does it all fit together then?"
"Well it's like this...."

Better crack on with this so folks can have lunch

Thanks very much to Dave Singleton for these two photographs.

Poppies everywhere!

Flaming June
8" x 16"
Buy it now

They are here for only a short while and when you come across a field of poppies in June they are so magical. This seems to be a good year for poppies in Lincolnshire, and these ones are only about a mile from where I live so I simply couldn't resist. 

This was one of those that almost painted itself, tripping off the brush so fluently, and in under an hour and a half my work here was done.

By the way the sky looks a much more subtle blue in the real painting than it looks in this version on my screen, and possibly on your screen too. Looks better in the progress shots below.

I took a couple of photos as I went along, as I know that many of you like to see the stages.

Sketched in with the brush, then placing of greens

A touch of red so I could see it in situ, then blocked the sky in 

Great studio for the morning :-)